Thursday, June 13, 2013

EDITORIAL: Mr. Narendra Modi, you have a choice

By Mike GhousePublished at Indian Muslim Observer, June 4, 2012http://www.indianmuslimobserver.com/2012/06/latest-editorial-mr-narendra-modi-you.htmlNarendra
Modi is one of the most loved and hated politicians of India. He is the
Chief Minister (Equivalent of State Governor in the US) of Gujarat,
touted as one of the most industrialized states of India. He is loved
by those who prospered and became wealthy, and hated by those who cried
out for help, but got none.

In
the Gujarat Mayhem a decade ago, both the criminals and victims were
ethnic Guajarati. A majority of them did not like the death and
destruction of fellow Gujaratis. Nearly a thousand of them were killed
and several thousand were displaced and still living in the refugee
camps.

No
decent Gujarati should be offended with the reporting on rampage, it is
not about them; it is about the criminals among them, regardless of the
religious label they wear. Religion does not permit one to murder
others. It is an embarrassment and a dark part of their history.

During
the communal riots in Jabalpur in the early sixties, both Muslims and
Hindus were killed in the mayhem. I wish every father in India, teaches
the following lesson to his kids, as my father taught me. He told us
that the "individuals" are responsible for the bloodshed and not the
religions; he was very clear. He said, you cannot blame the nebulous
understanding of religion and expect justice. The individuals
responsible for disturbing the peace should be punished under the law,
and a resolution to the conflict must result by serving justice. He said
you cannot annihilate, kill, hang or beat a religion, then why bark at
it? It is not the religion, it is the individual bad guys that are the
problem.

Crime
is always committed by the individuals, and each individual must be
brought to justice to restore faith in the society. When you believe
that your rights will be protected by your government, you feel safe and
secure and that is how you build cohesive societies.

It
is disappointing to see the depletion of humanness among a few vocal
fellow Indians. They have no empathy for the pain and anguish of
families who were massacred in broad day light in Gujarat. It is a
shame that a few of them even justify it, and a few others believe that
the victims deserved it. Indeed, it is an assault on the sense of
morality of all religions.

The
long term well being of the individual and the society hinges on the
morality of the people and not the wealth and economic prosperity. No
nation has ever lasted on the basis of economic prosperity alone, it is
the collective morality and adherence to the justice for all that
defines the idea of a civilized nation.

This
piece is written in Indian context; hence, a self introspection for the
Indians and Indian Americans may be necessary with the following five
questions.

1. Am I communal (sectarian) minded person?

2. Am I capable of seeing another Indian as Indian without the religious lens?

3. Do I blame others and not jettison my own share of responsibility?

4. Do I feel bad, and not speak for fear of offending friends?

5. Do I have a moral chip in me?

No society attains long term prosperity while oppressing a minority amongst them.

A
“few” Hindus have rejoiced the massacre of fellow Gujarati Muslims,
shame on their humanity and shame on them to call themselves Hindus. A
few Muslims find it difficult to reconcile the situation, shame on them
for not listening to their own religion. God declares in Quraan, that
the dearest among you, is the one who forgives. It is not easy to do
that. A few Muslims rightfully want nothing but punishment, I wish they
rather seek justice.

We have a choice to correct the situation, to begin with, at least in our own hearts.

An appeal to Chief Minister Modi

Dear Mr. Narendra Modi,

You
have a moral responsibility to the well being of every citizen of
Gujarat, whether they personally elected you or not, you still represent
them.

Your fellow Gujaratis were massacred under your guardianship, and I hope your humanness is alive to feel their pain and anguish.

Mr.
Modi, you have many choices; one among them is repentance, the
praischit, and I urge you to seriously consider it. It is the Michami
Dukadam of your life, that is seeking forgiveness and forgiving others
for any grudge you may harbor against others. Right now, you have a
choice to start your spiritual and political life with a clean slate.

This
means making good with the people who have suffered under your
leadership; it will bring Mukti (salvation) to you. The other choice is
to resign and show the strength of your character.

Your
moral character in the only sustainable legacy you can leave behind,
and not the wealth you create for a few. Gujarat has been around and
will always be there with or without you, and I hope you are humble
enough to see it.

You
may consider working on earning genuine respect from every Gujarati,
particularly the downtrodden living in the refugee camps. Uplift their
lives. You will be uplifting a huge moral burden of fellow Guajarati and
fellow Indians. Your honesty and integrity will be transparent in how
you handle the situation.

As
a leader of one of the industrially advanced states, you have a duty to
establish Gujarat as a state that respects law, where justice will be
served to every Gujarati, whether they live in a Jhompdi (Huts) or the
castle. Every Indian should feel safe, as the law would take care of the
wrong doers. You need to express your courage to speak up and follow
dharma, the right path.

You
can begin by mustering the courage to apologize to the citizens of
Gujarat and restore their lives and bring justice to them. It will
bring peace to every Gujarati and every Indian. It takes a man to do it,
and I hope you are man enough to do it and turn things around for the
16000 men and women living in refugee camps. Do them good, restore
their life and earn their goodwill. Once they see the results of
restoration of a genuine man, they will forgive you and support you and,
they will stand up for you, if you stand up for them.

I
am not sure if you are aspiring to run the national ship, or the ones
who benefit from it want to prop you up, either way, you have the
responsibility to fellow Gujaratis.

Your
chamchas may not care if you did not get the visa to the United States,
but you may want to remove the ugly stain from your character. The
Hindus and Muslims are willing to help you, provided you are willing to
do the praischit. The choice is yours.

[Mike Ghouseis
an Indian American committed to building cohesive societies, in the
Indian context he hopes no Indian has to live in apprehension,
discomfort or fear of the other. MikeGhouse is committed to building a
Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.
He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism,
politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike
is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on
national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith
Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly at Huffington post, and
several other periodicals across the world. The blog
www.TheGhousediary.com is updated daily. Mike Ghouse is associated with
IndianMuslimObserver.com as Foreign Editor. He can be contacted at
mikeghouse@aol.com]

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REAL ESTATE IN INDIA

INDIAN HEROES

These are the men and women from among Hindus, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews, and other traditions that are deeply committed to the idea of One India and one people acknowledging the uniqueness of each one of the Indians.

Their work brings people together, their effort is to restore harmony among Indians unlike some lost souls who are hell bent on pitting one Indian against the other.

Lord Krishna had said, whenever the negative forces become stronger in dividing families and disrupt peace and harmony, he will emerge among them to restore sanity, the same idea is reflected in Quran, that God does not deprive his goodness to anyone and sends a peacemaker to every community and nation. After the founding fathers of the nation, these are our real heroes restoring dharma – the righteousness. Dharma is when people get along, mind their own business, live their lives and let others live theirs. God has created all of us and respects each one of us is the highest form of worship.

I salute them for their work and they come from all walks of life. They see you as an Indian and nothing but an Indian. They believe every human should be free to eat, drink, wear or believe whatever he or she wants in the pursuit of their happiness.

Please share stories of such Indians who have made efforts to build a cohesive India, an India where no Indian lives in apprehension, tension or fear of the other.

INDIAN HEROES - NEW FROM 12/20/17

PATRIOTISM

Two of India’s dangerous trends: Misplaced Patriotism and intolerance towards different points of view.

The real heroes of India are those who relentlessly “criticize” the government because they do not want their government to falter and make decisions that will mess up the social structure of the nation. They keep the government rascals on their toes. After all, they are elected to serve us not the other way around. The real heroes rise the nation for the common good of all.

What do the Chamchas on the other hand do? They wear a false badge of patriotism and to them patriotism is oppression of those who differ, and war mongering. They cannot handle criticism of government, they are yes sir, yes sir I lick your chappals. They bring down the nation by keeping their man at helm in a bubble giving him or her false assurance that everything is alright.

I hope the Prime Minister wises up and invites and honors those who criticize him, they are the real supporters of him by reminding him from falling into the pit. He should welcome all those who criticize. He needs to defend the rights of such heroes. The Indian Citizens on the other hand need to make a conscious effort to support those who criticize the government, BJP or Congress or any one.

The test of a successful civilized nation is when every man and woman of India can breathe, eat, drink, wear and believe whatever the hell she or he wants to believe.

UPRIGHT BUREAUCRATS

These are the public service heroes; officers who go against their political bosses to do the right thing for India, i.e, every Indian. We will be developing the list as we go forward. You can send in your entries to MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com

UPRIGHT BUREAUCRATS

ABOUT MIKE GHOUSE

Mike Ghouse is committed to his life mission of building cohesive work places, communities and nations. His work is for the Indians and Americans where each one of the 322 million Americans should feel secure without apprehension or fear of the other.

He is one of the 5 people in the world who is actively pursuing research, activism and teaching the subject of Pluralism. Just Google and find a tremendous amount of work on pluralism in religion, politics, society and culture. Mike defines Pluralism as an attitude of “respecting the otherness of other” and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each one of us.

He is a pluralist, thinker, writer, activist and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, politics, Islam, human rights and foreign policy including India and Israel-Palestine. He is a news maker, interfaith wedding officiant and a community consultant and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

Dr. Ghouse has appeared in over 300 National TV shows and is a frequent guest with Hannity and Varney shows at Fox News along with others. He has over 1000 hours of Radio Shows of which 700 were dedicated to interfaith and pluralism. Over 3500 articles have been published of which a 1000 were on politics, foreign policy, sports and movies, a 1500 for interfaith and pluralism matters and a 1000 plus on Islam. In addition Mike has conducted workshops on Atheist to Zoroastrian and every one in between.

Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His work is at www.Centerforpluralism.com and www.WorldMuslimCongress.org

Welcome

We are proud of our heritage - a multi-faith, multi-cultural, multi-regional and multi-linguistic society, where we have come to accept and respect every which way people have lived their lives. For over 5000 years, India has been a beacon of pluralism - it has embraced Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Baha’i and Zoroastrianism to include in the array of the indigenous religions; Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. India led the way to the freedom movement, since 1947 every country has been liberated from colonialism. Indian democracy is a shining example to the world, where the people have peacefully transferred the powers. Indians are inherently secular and economically capitalistic. They believe in "live-and-let-live" life style, which is the essence of capitalism.Through the years we have expressed the highest degree of maturity on handling extreme situations; the more divergent opinions we hear, the larger our heart grows, the bigger our embrace would be and we can cushion more differences. Let’s continue to honor the concept that there is always another side to the story, as finding the truth is our own responsibility.I am proud of my heritage and am proud to be an Indian-American. Please join me in the discovery of India on a daily basis, as time permits and share the wealth of knowledge you have on this forum.

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